Battle of the Machines
by Shoto Man
Summary: Mega Man's faced off against interstellar robots before, but he's never seen anything like this before...
1. Default Chapter

Battle of the Machines  
  
by  
  
Shoto Man  
  
Bass cursed and kicked a rock across the cavern. It had been a mere matter of weeks since Mega Man had been through and demolished the "Wily Tower," thus ending the eighth Robot Rebellion. Now all that was left of it was rubble. And Wily sent me here to salvage anything useful, Bass thought bitterly. Right. More accurately, he just wants me out of the way for a while. He knows more than anyone how thoroughly his fortresses blow up. It wasn't that the black and gold armored robot blamed his creator for disposing of him in such a manner-after all, Bass' independent nature caused the two to clash constantly-but that didn't mean he had to like it. Now he was overseeing a troupe of Sniper Joes and Metools as they dug through the useless garbage.  
  
Bass was pacing back and forth, making a pretense at watching the proceedings when something caught his eye. It was the entrance to a tunnel that he had never seen before. There was probably nothing in the tunnel that had any relevance to his current "mission" but that had never stopped him before. Besides, he was bored. So he decided to do a little spelunking.  
  
Minutes later Bass was humming tunelessly as the light from his small flashlight illuminated the dull rock that made up the walls of the tunnel. He wasn't really any less bored now than he was before. The tunnel went straight with no forks or bends so far, and there wasn't even any bats for him to terrorize. Guess I better be getting back, Bass thought with a sigh as he made one last sweep with his flashlight. A slight glint of reflected light caused him to stop. Well, hello, what have we here?  
  
Bas walked up to the source of the reflected light and picked it up. He couldn't help but chuckle. It was an old portable cassette player. Made sometime in the nineteen eighties from boxy, overly primitive look to it. It's only real distinguishing mark was a purple symbol on its face, where it opened to allow the cassettes. It was violet in color, all angles yet resembling a face in some shape or form. Bass shook his head. "Worthless junk," he muttered aloud as he tossed the recorder behind him. Now it really was time to get back to the excavation site.  
  
KCH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CH!  
  
The sound stopped him in his tracks. It was loud and synthesized-sounding. And it came from behind him. He turned to see what happened and slowly turned his gaze upward. He didn't like what he saw. "Aw crap!" he muttered to himself a moment before a large blast of energy sent him flying. Bass' limp form flew into the chamber with the remains of Wily's fortress. He slid across the ground, leaving a deep furrow in the wreckage. When he came to a stop, he slowly got to his feet, smoke rising from his chest. With a quick clenching of his fist, a panel on his forearm slid open revealing his energy meter. Bass did a double take. For as big and seemingly powerful as that blast had been, it didn't do any more than one of Mega Man's fully charged Mega Buster shots did. Bass grinned as he powered up a shot of his own for the opponent he knew was coming.  
  
And come he did. He was a huge robot, the size of some of Wily's fortress guardians. His was purple, white and gray, and blocky in design, with the same face-like symbol on his window-like chest. It was obvious that the "piece-of-junk" tape player was more than it had initially seemed.  
  
Bass held up a hand as the Sniper Joes came charging in on this new threat. "Halt where you are!" He ordered. "This one's mine!" He finished by blasting the new robot full in the face with his charged buster shot followed by rapid fire shots. The newcomer backed up back into the tunnel. Bass grinned. Yes! he thought as he began to charge his buster. The new robot began firing with his own hand-held blaster, using the tunnel entrance as cover. Bass dodged the blasts and returned fire, causing the purple robot to withdraw back into the tunnel. Time to bring him out in the open, Bass thought as he whistled. The purple wolf-like robo-dog named Treble trotted up to his side. "All right, boy, sic 'em!" Bass commanded. Bass charged into the tunnel. Less than a second later, the new robot stumbled out of the tunnel with Treble latched on to his shoulder.  
  
Bass' opponent reached over and threw the dog to the ground, then hit a hidden button on his shoulder. His chest opened and a tape cassette launched from it. "Ravage: eject!" the robot said as the cassette transformed into a robotic jaguar. "Operation: interception!"  
  
With a roar the black jaguar, apparently named Ravage, leaped at Treble. The two became involved in a heavy battle of claws and teeth. Bass grinned. "Looks like you're all outta surprises."  
  
"Negative," the new robot responded as he ejected two more tapes from his chest. "Rumble, Frenzy: eject!" The tapes transformed into two nearly identical humanoid robots not much bigger than Bass himself. "Attack!"  
  
One of the smaller robots grinned. "Sure thing, Soundwave!"  
  
Rumble and Frenzy transformed their arms into turbines and began pounding the ground with them, causing the ground to open up under Bass' feet. Bass yelled a curse as the ground swallowed him up. His two attackers walked up to where he once stood and looked at their handiwork. Rumble grinned. "That was easy enough, wasn't it, Frenzy?"  
  
"You got ieaaghghg!" Frenzy cried as a blast of plasma erupted from the ground and hit him full in the chest. Bass erupted from the ground himself and punched Rumble right in the face before clonking their heads together, knocking them unconscious.  
  
Bass turned to face his real opponent. "Now will you face me like a man, 'Soundwave?'"  
  
Soundwave nodded. "Affirmative!" At that moment he fired rapid fire slugs from his shoulder cannon. Bass dodged them all and returned fire, hitting his opponent in the chest. Soundwave responded by delivering a devastating uppercut, sending Bass flying into the ceiling. Bass fell limply to the ground, seemingly unconscious. Soundwave leaned over to make sure this opponent was down for the count when Bass suddenly came to life and blasted him point-blank in the face. He didn't let up, shooting him over and over again until he fell. Soundwave shook his head and began to stand up, only to feel Bass land on his chest and to find Bass' arm cannon in his face. Bass in turn felt the tip of Soundwave's blaster against the side of his head, bringing the match to a draw.  
  
"Okay," Bass said. "I'm a reasonable robot. If we continue from here, all that's gonna happen is that both of us will find ourselves non functioning corpses. How 'bout we call a cease fire at least 'till we find out if it's worth blowing each others heads off."  
  
Soundwave nodded. "Your proposal is acceptable."  
  
Bass got off of Soundwave's chest, allowing the larger robot to stand up. "All right," Bass began. "Name's Bass. Technically I'm second in command to Dr. Wily's robot army bent on conquering the world, but I really just enjoy the violence, and just stick around 'cuz it's handy having somebody to patch you up after a particularly fun night. How about you?"  
  
"I am Soundwave. Communications Officer for the Decepticon army of the planet Cybertron."  
  
Bass scratched his chin, thoughtfully. "Cybertron, eh?" Bass grinned. "I can already tell that your story's gonna be a heck of a lot more interesting than mine..." 


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Wheeljack, report!"

The white, green, and red robot turned from his work to his leader, Optimus Prime. "It doesn't look good, Prime," he said, his earpieces flashing blue with each syllable. "The console's fried. It'd take hours for me to fix _if_ I knew where to start, and I don't."

"How's that possible?" Bumblebee asked.

Wheeljack gazed up from the control console to take in the device, which mostly consisted of a large huge flat screen inset into the wall. The screen was taller than Prime and wider than three Autobots shoulder to shoulder. "Well, this thing's very complex, even by Cybertronian standards. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd swear I was looking at Space Bridge technology."

That statement brought a gasp out of the Autobots. They were here at this human lab in this midwestern desert because of a distress call they'd received at the Ark. The lab was under attack, by the Decepticons, of course. When the Autobots arrived, battle ensued, and a stray shot hit the console of the device. There was a flash, and the Decepticons were gone.

Optimus Prime scratched his faceplate-covered chin thoughtfully. "Then that means chances are the Decepticons weren't destroyed in the blast." He turned to one of the few human scientists who had hung around. "How were you able to create this?" Prime asked.

The scientist adjusted his glasses before speaking. "It was because of Dr. Archiville, believe it or not," he began. "After the fiasco created by his deal with Megatron, and the subsequent problems caused when Megatron returned to his lab, the government sent in a team of specialists to obtain and study any and all data he had on his computers. The most important piece found, was of course, notes and schematics to the D. Con's Space Bridge. The best scientists in the world were assembled to build it. We figured that it was time we humans contributed something to this war. Also, the potential for exploration did not escape our grasp."

Wheeljack nodded, but said, "But there seems to be some changes in here. We may not have a Space Bridge ourselves, nor the means to build one, but I know the theories behind it."

The scientist nodded. "We couldn't replicate the plans exactly, so we had to improvise a couple of times. In the end, we'd created not a Bridge that would teleport matter over space as we know it, but a bridge into other realities, other dimensions. We'd found one in particular that was most interesting to us. It seemed to be an alternate future of this planet. One where the Transformers never crash landed on Earth. It was very advanced. They'd even created successfully convincing humanoid robots–androids, though they aren't particularly common yet. Seems there's a war going on."

"War, it seems, is a something that spans realities," Prime said with an edge of sadness to his voice. "Have you actually made contact with anyone in this other reality?"

The scientist shook his head. "For now, we're simply studying from a distance. We haven't calculated the implications of actual contact yet. How did the Decepticons find out about this place, anyway? This was all top level classified."

"It's Soundwave's business to find out top level classified information," Prowl said serieously. "Why didn't you at least let us in on this little secret. We could have helped."

The scientist shrugged. "Like I said. We wanted to contribute something by ourselves. Besides, we weren't exactly sure what your response would have been."

Optimus Prime turned to gaze into the Bridge's screen, as if trying to discern the fate of his old enemy. "So now we've sent the Decepticons to another helpless world..."

Grimlock, the leader of the Dinobots made a noise that passed off as a snort. "Me Grimlock say we leave 'em there and go home."

"You know we can't do that," Prime responded. "We would be responsible for any destruction caused by the Decepticons. We can't take an 'out-of-sight-out-of-mind mentality, here."

Grimlock shrugged. "Whatever," he muttered before transforming to his T-Rex mode and exiting out the large garage door to the lab.

Prime turned his attention back on Wheeljack. "Do you think you can fix it?"

Wheeljack nodded. "Probably, but it'd be nice if I had a little help."

"We've already thought of that," the scientist said. "We've already sent for the head of the project. He knows our Space Bridge inside and out. Name's Light. Tomas Xaviar Light."

Megatron was brooding. Most of his followers knew that any time Megatron was brooding was the time to remain silent. Starscream of course, was the exeption. "Brilliant plan, O mighty Megatron," Starcream complained, sarcasm dripping off his voice when he used the title, like always. "Let's commandeer the humans' little Space Bridge and use it to build up our energy reserves without the interference of the Autobots. Well now look at where we are! We're trapped here in this little cave, with no way back to our reality, and we don't even know if this reality even has a Cybertron to rule!"

"Starscream, will you shut up!" Skywarp yelled. "If you remember, the plan was to let Soundwave and Ravage take the base by stealth so they couldn't contact the Autobots. You jumped the gun, pal. Face it, the plan wasn't flawed, it was you that was flawed."

Stasrcream made a contemptuous noise and was about to respond, when Megatron spoke. "Starscream," he said quietly–a far deadlier tone than his usual screaming; even Starscream cringed at it–"I tolerate you because you are one of the most capable fighters on my force. And your tactical abilities have aided me many times in the past. But know this. My patience with you is wearing thin. If you value your hide you will be silent."

Starscream, normally not one to be cowed so easily, realized how close he was to crossing the uncrossable line and fell silent. Minutes passed, then the little camera that was placed on an outcropping near the cavern's entrance split into thirds, which grew and formed into the trio of robots collectively known as Reflector. "Soundwave, returns, Megatron." They spoke in unison.

"Finally," Megatron muttered. "Some intelligent conversation.

When Soundwave entered the cavern, everyone was surprised to see what appeared to be a human in black and grey armor with him. "What is the meaning of this?" Megaron asked.

The little humanoid grinned. "Now is that any way to greet a guest?" he asked.

Megatron glared down at the little insect, and was surprised when his scanners informed him that he was looking at a robot, just as mechanical as Megatron himself. "Speak, then, and be on your way."

The newcomer found a slab of rock and flopped down on it casually, hands behind his head, legs crossed, apparently not a care in the world. "My name, as I've already said to Soundwave here, is Bass. And I've come to propose a deal."

"Megatron accepts deals from no one," Megatron responded.

Bass shrugged. "You might want to reconsider that policy, Megsy, since it'll make your little energy hunt a lot easier on you. After all, what good is it to obtain energy if you burn it all off in the attempt?" Megatron seriously began to consider this little robot's words when Bass continued. "And you might want to work on this 'addressing-yourself-in-the-third-person' thing. People'll think you've got a short somewhere."

Megatron's anger flared and he aimed his arm mounted fusion cannon directly at the little upstart. Bass merely yawned loudly. "Nice piece you got there," he said conversationally. Megatron was obviously surprised at his brass, and lowered his cannon. Starscream grinned. This little mech was either brilliant, or very, very crazy. He was beginning to like him already.

"What is it you have to offer?" Megatron asked cautiously.

"Energy, of course," Bass replied. "That _is_ what you're after, right? Energy and a way home. My creator can supply you with both. All you'd have to do is supply us with a few tricks of your trade."

"What makes you think your creator would be capable of helping us?" Megatron asked with his ruby eyes narrowed.

Bass grinned. "For starters, he built me, and I was able to fight Soundwave here and his cute little cassettes to a draw."

Megatron tapped his chin thoughtfully. That was no mean feat, especially for one so small. "All right, Bass," he said. "You have peaked my interest."

Bass' grin grew wider. "I thought I might."


End file.
